Sony announced this Thursday (5) a 45% increase in operating profit, which reached 622.3 billion yen in the quarter ended September 2026. The company raised its annual forecasts, driven by the performance of the PlayStation and film divisions, and confirmed that development of its next-generation console remains on schedule.

Consolidated revenue grew 10%, to 3.43 trillion yen, while net profit rose 44%, reaching 449.6 billion yen. In the Game & Network Services division, responsible for PlayStation, operating profit jumped 83%, to 220.1 billion yen, with revenue of 1.21 trillion yen.

Growth occurred despite a slowdown in console sales. Sony distributed 2.6 million PS5 units between July and September, compared with 4 million in the same period of 2025. The cumulative total reached 97.9 million devices.

By contrast, game sales for PS4 and PS5 grew from 80.3 million to 88.2 million units. The PlayStation platform also reached 127 million monthly active users in September, up 7% from the previous year, while total play time increased 4%.

PlayStation profit grows 29% excluding the effect of extraordinary expenses

Part of the 83% expansion in the gaming division's profit reflects the absence of extraordinary losses recorded in the equivalent quarter of 2025.

At the time, Sony recorded 31.5 billion yen in losses related to Bungie assets and another 18.3 billion yen in adjustments to previously capitalized development costs. Excluding those 49.8 billion yen, comparable operating profit growth was 29%, according to the company.

With the results, Sony raised its consolidated operating profit forecast for the fiscal year ending in March 2027, from 1.72 trillion to 1.87 trillion yen. The operating cash flow projection also rose, from 1.5 trillion to 1.6 trillion yen.

For the PlayStation division, the annual operating profit expectation rose from 660 billion to 700 billion yen, supported mainly by third-party game sales, network services and cost reductions.

The revision comes on the eve of the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI, scheduled by Rockstar Games for November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.

Asked about the game's contribution to the new projections, CFO Lin Tao said third-party title sales had already exceeded Sony's expectations. She expressed confidence in upcoming releases but did not present specific sales or revenue estimates attributed to GTA 6.

The executive also addressed preparations for the PS5's successor. According to Tao, research and development of the next-generation platform is advancing in line with the internal schedule, with new investments planned during the transition to the next fiscal year.

Sony has not yet announced an official release date for the PS6. The company intends to expand preparations for the new platform starting in the fiscal year beginning in April 2027, while managing rising memory costs and the natural slowdown in PS5 sales.

Regarding component supply, Sony said it had aligned with suppliers on the memory volumes needed for its hardware sales projections in the next fiscal year.

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